Hydrology Reviewer
Hydrology Reviewer
3 Philippine Watersheds
1.2 Hydrologic Cycle and the Human Impact 1.4 The Atmosphere
• Volcanic activity introduce water into the
• Troposphere accounts for more than 80 % of the
atmosphere, thus increasing the surface-water and
mass of virtually all water vapor, clouds, and
groundwater volume of the Earth.
precipitation in the Earth’s atmosphere.
• The quantities of water going through paths of the
• Temperature inversions (temperature increasing
hydrological cycle can be described by the continuity
with increasing height) are possible near the surface.
principle known as water budget equation or
• Due to the extreme stability of the stratosphere,
hydrologic equation.
particles that are emitted directly into it (from
• Total water resources of the earth are constant.
volcanic eruptions, nuclear explosions, etc.) will
• Condensation is crucial to the water cycle because it
remain there for a long time.
is responsible for the formation of clouds.
• The stratosphere acts as a reservoir for atmospheric
• Precipitation is the primary connection for the
pollution.
delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth.
• Tropopause is the transition between troposphere
• Groundwater or "aquifer," used to describe water-
and stratosphere. Water vapor decreases and ozone
bearing formations.
increases as one moves closer to the stratosphere.
HUMAN IMPACT • The tropopause is generally higher in the summer
than in the winter.
1. When deforestation occurs, precious rain is lost from
the area, flowing away as river water, and causing TWO LAYERS IN THE TROPOSPEHERE
permanent drying.
1. Planetary Boundary Layer
2. Urbanization. Impervious surfaces alter the natural
- influenced by the presence of the surface of the
amount of water
earth.
- decrease in the volume of water that percolates
- responds to surface forcings (solar heating,
into the ground
friction, evapotranspiration, etc.)
- increase in volume and decrease in quality of
2. Free Atmosphere
surface water.
- right above the boundary layer and is not directly
3. Irrigation removes water from its natural source and
influence by local surface forcings.
often causes leaching and run-off where it is used.
- artificial watering of land GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ATMOSPHERE
4. Dams change the timing, amount, and chemical
1. The lower atmosphere contains water vapor, which
composition of a river's flow.
determine its humidity.
5. Cloud seeding is a weather modification.
2. Condensation and sublimation within the
- Sulfur Iodide aids in the formation of ice crystals.
atmosphere cause clouds or fog, and the liquid water
droplets or ice crystals may precipitate to the ground
as rain, sleet, snow, hail, dew, or frost.
3. Because of the pull of gravity, the density of the - convective lift can be powerful enough to
atmosphere and the pressure exerted by air penetrate the tropopause and push the cloud top
molecules are greatest near the earth's surface. into the stratosphere.
3. Orographic Lift wind circulation forcing air over a
VARIABLE THAT INFLUENCE THE ATMOSPHERE
physical barrier such as a mountain.
Cloudiness, Humidity, Pressure, Temperature, Winds
• Non-Adiabatic Cooling
ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY - lowers the temperature of the air to its dew
• Stability = equilibrium. point.
• When the atmosphere is stable, a parcel of air will - Conductive, radiational, and evaporative cooling
want to return to its original position after being require no lifting mechanism and can cause
raised or lowered. condensation at surface level.
• Vertical motions are inhibited. CLOUD DISTRIBUTION
• Atmospheric stability is a measure of the
atmosphere's tendency to encourage or deter vertical • Convergence Along Low-Pressure Zones
motion, and vertical motion is directly correlated to - Near the equator, increased cloudiness is due to
different types of weather systems and their severity. the presence of the low-pressure Intertropical
• Absolutely Stable: Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where very warm and
environmental lapse rate < the moist adiabatic lapse rate. unstable air promotes mostly cumuliform and
cumulonimbiform clouds.
1.5 Introduction to Cloud Physics • Divergence Along High Pressure Zones
- The horse latitudes are regions located at about
Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead
30 degrees north and south of the equator
to the formation, growth and precipitation of atmospheric
clouds. TYPES OF CLOUDS
• Terrestrial clouds can be found throughout most of 1. CIRRUS. Detached clouds in the form of white,
the homosphere, which includes the troposphere, delicate filaments, mostly white patches or narrow
stratosphere, and mesosphere. bands. They may have a fibrous (hair -like) and/or
• Adiabatic cooling silky sheen appearance.
- occurs when one or more of three possible lifting - always composed of ice crystals
agents – cyclonic/frontal, convective, or - Before sunrise and after sunset, cirrus is often
orographic – cause a collection of air containing colored bright yellow or red.
invisible water vapor to rise and cool to its dew 2. CIRROSTRATUS. Transparent, whitish veil clouds with
point, the temperature at which the air becomes a fibrous (hair -like) or smooth appearance.
saturated. 3. CIRROCUMULUS. Thin, white patch, sheet, or layered
- Main mechanism of clouds without shading. They are composed of very
small elements in the form of more or less regularly
LIFTING AGENTS arranged grains or ripples.
1. Frontal and cyclonic lift occur when stable air is Mid Clouds
forced aloft at weather fronts and around centers of
low pressure by a process called convergence. 1. ALTOSTRATUS. Gray or bluish cloud sheets or layers
- Warm fronts associated with extratropical of striated or fibrous clouds that totally or partially
cyclones covers the sky. They are thin enough to regularly
- Cold fronts are usually faster moving and reveal the sun
generate a narrower line of clouds 2. ALTOCUMULUS. White and/or gray patch, sheet or
2. Convective upward motion of air is caused by layered clouds, generally composed of laminae
daytime solar heating at surface level. (plates), rounded masses or rolls.
- most common mid cloud (mukhang pwet ng
baso)
3. NIMBOSTRATUS. The continuous rain cloud. • The cyclones are regions of bad weather and fronts.
- Resulting from thickening Altostratus • The anticyclones are regions of good weather.
- This is a dark gray cloud layer diffused by falling • The high- and low-pressure centers move on average
rain or snow. (uulan na) from west to east, driven by large-scale winds from
the west.
Low Clouds
• Near 60° latitude are belts of low surface pressure
1. CUMULUS. Detached, generally dense clouds and called subpolar lows.
with sharp outlines • Near each pole is a climatological region of high
- sunlit parts of these clouds are mostly brilliant pressure called a polar high.
white while their bases are relatively dark and • Between each polar high (at 90°) and the subpolar
horizontal. low (at 60°) is a belt of weak easterly winds, called
2. STRATUS. A generally gray cloud layer with a uniform the polar easterlies.
base which may, if thick enough, produce drizzle, ice
prisms, or snow grains. UPPER-TROPOSPHERE
3. CUMULONIMBUS. The thunderstorm cloud • The stratosphere is strongly statically stable, and acts
- this is a heavy and dense cloud in the form of a like a lid to the troposphere.
mountain or huge tower. • Near 30° latitude in each hemisphere is a persistent
4. STRATOCUMULUS. Gray or whitish patch, sheet, or belt of strong westerly winds at the tropopause called
layered clouds which almost always have dark the subtropical jet.
tessellations (honeycomb appearance). • In mid-latitudes at the tropopause is another belt of
strong westerly winds called the polar jet.
1.6 Solar Radiation
• The centerline of the polar jet meanders north and
RADIATION SOURCES south, resulting in a wave-like shape called a Rossby
wave (or planetary wave).
• All matter radiates energy in the form of
electromagnetic waves. VERTICAL CIRCULATIONS
• The hotter a substance is, the greater the amount of • Vertical circulations of warm rising air in the tropics
emitted energy, and the shorter the wavelength of and descending air in the subtropics are called Hadley
the emission. cells or Hadley circulations. At the bottom of the
Hadley cell are the trade winds. At the top, near the
1.7 General Circulation tropopause, are divergent winds.
• A spatial imbalance between radiative inputs and • Most well-defined circulation occurs in August and
outputs exists for the earth-ocean-atmosphere September.
system.
• Strongest circulation is during February and March.
THREE CIRCULATION BANDS
MONSOONAL CIRCULATIONS
Polar cell, Rossby Waves, Hadley Cell
• Monsoon circulations are continental-scale
NEAR THE SURFACE circulations driven by continent-ocean temperature
contrasts.
• equatorial belt of convergence is called the
intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). THERMAL CIRCULATIONS
- the air at the ITCZ is hot and humid, with low
1. Sea and Land Breeze
pressure, strong upward air motion, heavy
- Daytime sea breeze
convective (thunderstorm) precipitation
- Nighttime land breeze
- equatorial trough (low-pressure belt) was called
2. Mountain and Valley Breeze
the doldrums
- Daytime valley breeze
• At 30° latitude are belts of high surface pressure - Nighttime mountain breeze
called subtropical highs. 3. Monsoons, regional scale wind systems that
- In these belts are hot, dry, cloud-free air predictably change direction with the passing of the
descending from higher in the troposphere. seasons.
1.8 Temperature and Humidity - An increase in temperature with altitude is
inversion. Inversions are common in the
Temperature
stratosphere.
TWO FACTORS INFLUENCING THE
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE ON THE EARTH'S SURFACE
• Celsius scale, measure temperature using the C.scale
1. Latitude • Kelvin scale – measure thermodynamics temperature
2. Surface Properties • Rankine scale – a shifted Fahrenheit scale, used when
- In general, land absorbs less insolation than working in thermodynamic related disciplines such as
water because of its lighter color. combustion.
- The specific heat of water is some 5x greater than
A thermometer is an instrument that operates on the principle
of rock and the land surface. As a result, water
of thermal expansion of the material used, e.g. liquids like
requires large amounts of energy to cause a rise
mercury and alcohol, metallic materials, etc.
in its temperature.
- Water heats more slowly and cools more slowly • Standard temp of the atmosphere at sea level and a
than the surface of a large land body. pressure of 1013.2 mbars is 15 degrees Celsius
as of 01 May 2015 • The ground must be level and in the open and the
instrument must present a horizontal catch surface.
Tropical cyclones derive their energy from the latent heat of
• The gauge must be set as near the ground as possible
condensation which made them exist only over the oceans
to reduce wind effects but it must be sufficiently high
and die out rapidly on land.
to prevent splashing, flooding, etc.
• TROPICAL DEPRESSION (TD) - maximum sustained • The instrument must be surrounded by an open
winds of up to 61 kilometers per hour (kph) or less fenced area of at least 5.5 m ́ 5.5 m. No object should
than 33 nautical miles per hour (knots) . be nearer to the instrument than 30 m or twice the
• TROPICAL STORM (TS) - maximum wind speed of 62 height of the obstruction.
to 88 kph or 34 - 47 knots.
RAINGAUGES
• SEVERE TROPICAL STORM (STS) - maximum wind
speed of 89 to 117 kph or 48 - 63 knots. 1. NONRECORDING GAUGE
• TYPHOON (TY) - maximum wind speed of 118 to 220 • 8-inch gauge
kph or 64 - 120 knots. 2. RECORDING GAUGE
• SUPER TYPHOON (STY) - maximum wind speed • TIPPING-BUCKET RAINGAUGE It is an upright
exceeding 220 kph or more than 120 knots. cylinder that has funnel-shaped collector.
• WEIGHING-BUCKET TYPE the catch
TYPES OF PRECIPITATION from the funnel empties into a bucket mounted on a
weighing scale. The weight of the bucket and its
1. CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION is typical of the tropics
contents are recorded on a clock-work-driven chart.
and is brought about by heating of the air at the
• NATURAL-SYPHON TYPE aka float-type gauge. The
interface with the ground.
rainfall collected by a funnel-shaped collector is led
- may be in the form of light showers or storms of
into a float chamber causing a float to rise.
extremely high intensity.
• TELEMETERING RAINGAUGES are of the recording
2. OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION results from the type and contain electronic units to transmit the
mechanical lifting of moist horizontal air currents data on rainfall to a base station both at regular
over natural barriers such as mountain ranges. intervals and on interrogation.
- FACTORS THAT ARE IMPORTANT IN THIS - Telemetering gauges are of utmost use in gathering
PROCESS: land elevation, local slope, orientation rainfall data from mountainous and generally
of land slope, and distance from the moisture inaccessible places.
source.
RADAR MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL
3. CYCLONIC PRECIPITATION movement of air masses
from high-pressure regions to low-pressure regions. RAINGAUGE NETWORK
- warm air replaces colder air, warm front
ADEQUACY OF RAINGAUGE STATATIONS
- cold air displaces warm air, cold front
- front is not in motion, stationary front
4. ARTIFICIALLY INDUCED. Rainmaking is the act of
2.3 Precipitation Data Analysis
attempting to artificially induce or increase
precipitation, usually to stave off drought.